Many healthcare professionals overestimate a patient’s health literacy levels when providing them with discharge information, an issue that decreases patient engagement.

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest project was to determine if or to what degree the implementation of a health literacy education program would impact patient engagement by increasing health literacy levels among telemetry patients at a community hospital in Southwest Arizona. The Nutbeam’s health literacy model was the theoretical framework that guided the project. The sample size consisted of (n = 31) telemetry male (n = 13) and female (n = 18) patients between the ages of 18 to 65 years. A paired sample t-test was used to compare the participants' health literacy levels. Statistical significance was found (t (30) = 5.609, p < .05) from pretest to posttest. An independent sample t-test was used to determine whether the health literacy educational intervention increased health literacy levels. The findings also indicated statistical significance in the patient’s ability to verbalize two health-promoting behaviors one-week post-discharge (t (29) = 1.33, p = 0.012). The findings of the project indicated that the intervention might support health literacy levels and self-awareness. Based on the findings of this project, it is recommended that the intervention be sustained and re-evaluated over a longer period of time.